


Burn, Baby, Burn

by snwwhite



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Humor, My First AO3 Post, Original Character(s), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-04 20:24:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11562687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snwwhite/pseuds/snwwhite
Summary: Emma Waters moved to Central City to begin a new life, leaving behind her fair share of demons. When STAR Labs turns on their particle accelerator, her new life is turned upside down. After waking up from a 10 month coma, for the first time in her life she finally finds a place to fit in and people she can call her family.





	1. Awakening

The people of Central City were abuzz with excitement. History was about to be made right there, tonight, in their own home. Most didn’t quite understand the specifics, but they knew things were going to change forever.

They just had no idea how much.

Emma Waters, who was still relatively new to the city, couldn’t think of a better way to try to make this place her home than to partake in watching the biggest thing to happen there maybe ever. That, and physics had become a hobby of hers as of late. She had been unemployed until recently, and spent her time reading books of all kinds at the local library. Physics had sparked her interest so she had spent the better part of the last few weeks reading all the books the library had on the subject.

Thinking back on it now, she realized how big of a nerd she truly was.

With a shrug she continued walking down the street towards STAR Labs where their new Particle Accelerator was about to be turned on. Hardly anyone was on the street now, everyone probably was already there; the accelerator was about to be turned on any second now and Emma was running incredibly behind. She had stayed a little late at her new job at the CCPD and now she was afraid she’d miss it turning on. Just her luck, to get carried away and miss such a huge moment in time.

On top of all that, a thunderstorm had begun brewing and she forgot her umbrella at her new apartment. She picked up the pace, both to get out of the now pouring rain and in an attempt to make it in time.

A giant flash of light and a loud explosion at STAR Labs, just two blocks away from her, stopped her in her tracks. Her brown eyes just about bugged out of her head when she saw it, and she felt her heart stop when a ripple of energy burst out of the explosion. She turned to run away as it headed towards her, deep down knowing it was futile.

At the same time, a thunderbolt struck a car parked two feet from her, causing it to explode. The moment the ripple of energy collided with her, the flames from the car engulfed her completely.

The feeling of being burnt alive and the agonizing scream that tore from her lips was the last thing she would remember before everything went black.

***

_10 months later_

Barry Allen had been awake from his coma for just over a month and couldn’t believe how drastically his life had changed.

Sure, the coma part sucked, but now he was the fastest man alive and it was more incredible than he could put into words. His life had a purpose, he actually could make a real difference in the world now. He was saving lives, preventing disasters, and he loved every second of it.

He thought of his powers as a gift and he thanked whatever higher being allowed him to have them every day, but as Barry sat in the med bay in STAR Labs staring at the unconscious girl lying in the hospital bed in front of him he couldn’t help but wonder why he got so lucky? She had been in a coma even longer than he had and his heart hurt that she had missed so much time. Caitlin had found her unconscious outside STAR Labs the night of the explosion, skin burnt so bad it was black but somehow still alive. Now, 10 months later, her skin was almost completely healed, save for her face, and Barry found himself wondering for the hundredth time if she was going to wake up.

“Hey, Barry,” Caitlin greeted him, walking over to the girl to check on her.

“Hey,” he mumbled, his mind still preoccupied.

“We’ve finally been able to get a DNA sample from her,” she told him, effectively peaking his curiosity. They had been struggling to get testable DNA from her thus far; at first her skin had been burnt so badly that they couldn’t get any skin cells and had been too worried to try to draw blood, and her hair had been singed off completely. Once her skin started healing, they hadn’t been able to break the skin with a needle. “See? Her hair has started growing back.”

Sure enough, small follicles of brown hair were popping out of the girl’s bald head.

“Have you gotten an ID?” At the question Caitlin smiled, nodding her head excitedly.

“Yep. Her name is Emma Marie Waters,” she explained, pulling up a picture of the girl. Barry couldn’t help but admit that she was incredibly cute. It seemed to be a Facebook profile picture: she was pulling a goofy face and throwing up a peace sign with her fingers. In the picture she had long, curly brown hair that gradually turned lighter towards the ends, and large brown doe eyes. Large square-framed glass were perched on her nose-- those kinds that people normally associated with hipsters. She didn’t seem like a hipster, though. In fact, she looked like she was a total dork, wearing a Star Trek t-shirt.

“Wait, she actually looks kind of familiar,” Barry mumbled, her two-toned hair suddenly jogging his memory. He knew he had seen her somewhere before, but couldn’t quite put his finger on where or when.

“It’s funny, actually,” Caitlin chuckled. “The day of the explosion was her first day of work at CCPD.”

“Ah!” Barry shouted, pointing at the doctor in an epiphany. “Yes! I saw her in the precinct! She’s, uh...oh! She was the new Computer Forensics Specialist! That explains why everyone has been talking about the missing computer girl.”

All of a sudden the monitors attached to the girl--Emma, he reminded himself-- started going off like crazy. Jumping up, Barry asked Caitlin what the hell was happening.

“She’s crashing,” she exclaimed, rushing to grab the crash cart. She did a bunch of doctor-y stuff that Barry missed completely, too panicked to pay much attention to the specifics. Apparently nothing she had tried worked because she grabbed the AEDs.

“Clear!” she shouted, placing the device on Emma’s chest. The girl’s body jerked off the bed in response to the jolt.

What happened next left Barry speechless.

The jolt seemed to set off some kind of reaction in the girl’s body. The monitors normalled out, which was great but not what startled him. Instantaneously the skin on Emma’s face healed itself, her hair grew back to how it looked in the picture he had just seen, tattoos she must’ve had beforehand drew themselves back on her skin.

A second later she was sitting upright, voice breaking from a terrified scream. Her eyes were wide as she took in her surroundings, panting hard to catch her breath.

“Where the hell am I?” her voice rasped, panic laced in her words. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Caitlin Snow, and this is Barry Allen,” Caitlin said gently, trying to calm her down. She handed the startled girl her glasses, apparently which had fallen off her face before she was burned. Cisco had fixed the cracks that had been formed when they fell on the ground. “You’re safe; you’re at STAR Labs.” Emma’s eyes squinted in confusion, trying to remember what had happened.

“The last thing I remember…” she whispered, racking her brain. “I remember walking in the rain to see the Particle Accelerator...but then nothing. What happened?” The panic had returned to her voice, not liking that her memory was blank. Caitlin sighed.

“The accelerator exploded,” she explained softly. “I’m not sure exactly what happened to you, but I found you lying outside the building. You were,” she paused, struggling with what exactly to tell her. She didn’t want to worry her by telling her that she was quite literally burnt to a crisp. “You were unconscious.”

“Just started a new job and already I’ve missed a few days,” she grumbled. Just her luck.

“Uh,” Barry drawled out. “It’s been a bit more than a few days.” Emma looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time. He had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.

“How much longer, exactly?” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, unsure how to break the news to her. Like ripping off a bandaid, he decided.

“Ten months,” he finally said. If it was possible, the girl’s eyes grew even wider.

“Well fuck me,” she groaned, putting her head in her hands. Her casual profanity threw Barry off; she didn’t look like the cussing type. “Ten whole months? Are you serious?”

“Your injuries were...extensive,” Caitlin explained vaguely. “It’s honestly a miracle that you were even alive.”

Emma took in the news silently, mulling it over in her head. She wasn’t stupid, she knew they were hiding something from her. Given how she felt about what they did tell her, though, she figured that maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing she didn’t know the full extent.

Suddenly another person entered the room, a man in a wheelchair. Emma immediately recognized him as Dr. Harrison Wells.

“Welcome back, Miss Waters,” he greeted her kindly. “It’s good to see you awake.”

“Thank you, Dr. Wells,” she politely responded, a little star struck. “It’s nice to meet you. And, uh, thanks for taking care of me for...ten months apparently.”

“Not a problem, Miss Waters, I assure you. You weren’t our only patient,” he smiled, looking at Barry.

“You...you were also hurt?” she asked, eyebrows pulling in confusion. “What happened to you?”

“Hit by lightning,” he said simply, as if it wasn’t a big deal that he was struck by lightning and lived. “I was in a coma for nine months. Not quite ten, so you’re the big winner there,” he chuckled.

“Yay for me,” she snorted. Suddenly a fragmented memory flashed before her eyes: lightning hitting a car, flames, heat.

When the memory passed she saw the blankets over her legs were on fire, the other occupants of the room frantically trying to put them out. A screamed erupted from Emma’s throat and she jumped out of the bed. She looked down at her hands and saw them on fire. She started to panic, shaking her hands to try to put them out. When it didn’t work she stopped for a second, realizing that the fire wasn’t burning her. She started at her hands in awe. The same look was mirrored on the faces of the other three people staring at her.

“What...is...happening?” Emma whispered, eyes darting up to meet the eyes of Barry, who was approaching her with a giant smile on his face.

“Emma,” he began, reaching out to put a hand on her arm, careful to stay away from the flames. “What’s happening is you’re a meta-human...like me.” With those words and an even wider smile, Barry took off running so fast he was a blur, leaving lightning in his wake. Within half a second he was back, now clothed in a red suit.

That’s the last thing she saw before she passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

When she came to, she assumed it had only been a few minutes at most since she passed out. Dr. Wells and Caitlin were berating Barry for “revealing his identity” and “overwhelming her.” She would’ve rolled her eyes at them acting like she was a child who couldn’t handle the adults talking if she hadn’t just passed out cold from shock. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she announced, trying to get their attention. All three of their heads snapped to look at her and she suddenly felt self-conscious with all of their eyes on her. Suddenly Barry was at her side, helping her stand up. She muttered an embarrassed thanks at him. 

“I heard you found out who our mystery girl is. She hot?” A new voice entered the room, its owner a hispanic looking man with long, dark hair. When he walked through the doorway he looked up, noticing their patient was no longer in her bed. Nor was she unconscious. 

“I don’t know, am I?” Emma asked, a smirk on her face. The new guy had a sheepish look on his face as he gave her a once over.

“Yep, in a hot nerd kinda way,” he decided, causing her to let out a loud laugh. “I’m Cisco, by the way.”

“Emma,” she introduced herself, still giggling. Cisco then looked at Barry, eyes going wide.

“Oh, so we decided to tell her about you-know-what, then?” he asked, rolling his eyes. “C’mon guys! I’m part of the team too, ya know!” Barry made a move to explain, but Emma held up a hand to stop him. 

“Wanna see something cool?” She asked Cisco, a smirk forming on her face. 

“Uh...sure?” he replied, uncertain. The mischievous glint in her eyes made him nervous. She tentatively held out her right hand, facing her palm upwards. She furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, focusing intently on setting her hand on fire. Never thought I’d be doing that, she thought with a laugh. Sure enough, flames jumped out of her skin.

“Woah,” Cisco shouted, pointing excitedly at Emma’s display. “Dude, that is wicked!” 

Emma looked up at him and smiled, feeling giddy at the fact that she managed to work her new powers like that already. She looked back down at her hand, and focused on pushing more energy into the flames. The flames danced higher and she laughed breathlessly. 

“Emma!” Barry called, gaining her attention. He pointed at a mirror in the room, gesturing for her to look in it. She walked over curiously before gasping in surprise at what she saw. Her normally brown eyes were now a mix of orange and red as if they were flames themselves. But what really caught her eye was her hair, which had turned from a mess of brunette curls into a roaring fire. 

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, mouth wide open in surprise. An awed laugh spilled from her lips as she stared herself. 

“I got it!” Cisco hollered, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “Inferno!”

“What?” Emma asked, utterly confused as to what he was referring to to. Everyone else shook their heads in amusement.

“That’s your code name! Inferno!” he explained excitedly, looking rather proud of himself. “Guys, this is my new personal record. I mean, that only took me, like, two minutes.”

“Codename?” She couldn’t imagine why she would need a code name. Although she had to admit, she did like the sound of it. 

“Yeah! He’s the Flash,” he said, pointing to Barry. “Now you’re Inferno. Oh I need to get started on a new suit! Don’t worry, I’ll make you look dope.” 

“Wait, wait, wait,” she interrupted him. “A suit?” 

“Well, yeah,” he said in a very ‘well-duh’ manner. 

“I just woke up from a ten month coma, why do I need a suit?” Emma looked to Barry and Caitlin with pleading eyes, hoping they would say something that actually made sense to her. 

“I kind of, you know, fight crime and all,” Barry said lamely. “But Cisco, come on, you can’t just expect her to do the same. I mean…”

“No,” she interrupted again, excitement replacing her confusion. Barry raised an eyebrow at her. “I grew up reading comic books. Now you’re saying I can be a real life superhero?” 

“Well it’s not quite so simple, but essentially…” Dr. Wells began before being cut off. 

“Say no more!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “I’m going to be a superhero! Oh this is a dream come true. Shit, this is so exciting. It’s a bird, it’s a plane! No! It’s the amazing Inferno!” She rambled as she left the room, needing to pace around to expel some of the excited energy she was now feeling.

“Told you guys she was a nerd.”

**************

Turns out, being unconscious for 10 months and not able to pay rent means you lose your apartment, meaning Emma now found herself homeless. This slightly put a damper on her previous excitement at the prospect of being a superhero. At the very least, though, apparently the landlord stored all of her stuff in the basement of the complex, not knowing what else to do with it. 

This is how she found herself sitting by herself in STAR Labs at 2 a.m. that same night with the few boxes of belongings she had. 

Everyone else had taken their leave a little while prior, not aware of her current housing situation. She sat at one of the swivel chairs in front of the impressive set of computers, running her fingers over the keyboard in appreciation. With nothing else to do, and the distinct lack of desire to sleep after being unconscious for so long, Emma decided to peruse the internet and see what she had missed. 

The world was very different than it had been before her accident, she discovered. There was a vigilante in Starling City who used a bow and arrow to stop criminals. Apparently the vigilante did things differently there; Barry had told her how he tries to capture everyone alive so they can serve justice for their crimes. This guy, the guy in the hood, apparently had no such inclination. His death count was pretty high, although apparently lately he hadn’t killed anyone. Emma shrugged. She knew the world wasn’t always so black and white, sometimes it needed someone who could make the hard decisions like this guy apparently had. That being said, she couldn’t imagine killing anyone so she decided she liked Barry’s way better. 

Speaking of Barry, she found a blog written by someone named Iris West about The Flash. This is exactly what Emma had been looking for; she wanted to hear about what the team here had been doing before she tried to jump in and join them. After reading the blog posts and news stories about his work, though, she couldn’t help but feel intimidated. Barry had done so much good for this city, it was truly incredible. How could she expect to keep up (literally)? Especially when the people she’d be fighting were ‘metahumans’ with incredible abilities? She suddenly felt very overwhelmed. 

“What’re you still doing here, Miss Waters?” Dr. Wells’ voice startled her, having thought she was alone in the building. She turned around and gave him a wry smile.

“I could say the same about you, Dr. Wells,” she pointed out. “And, please, call me Emma.”

“Okay, Emma then,” he said with a small smile. “I come here around this time every morning,” he explained, causing Emma’s eyes to dart to a clock. It was 5 a.m. 

“Heh, I didn’t realize the time,” she mumbled. Time always got away from her when she used a computer. “I wasn’t able to pay rent for ten months,” she explained, tilting her head towards her three boxes of belongings that sat on the other side of the room.   
“Why didn’t you say something? I’m sure someone would be happy to put you up until you find a place.” 

“Didn’t want to impose,” she muttered. The truth was, Emma hardly knew these people. Even though they had been nothing but nice so far, she couldn’t ask virtual strangers to take her in. 

“Emma, you essentially joined our team today,” Dr. Wells began, wheeling over towards where Emma was sitting. “This team is composed of kind souls; they’ve become somewhat of a family. Family takes care of its own.”

“I don’t...I’ve never,” Emma stuttered, looking down at her now wringing hands in her lap. 

“You’ve never had a family,” Dr. Wells finished for her. She recoiled at his words, as if she’d been slapped. “I know all about you, Emma Marie Waters. I make a habit of keeping an eye on people of great minds.”

“I’m not…”

“Do not be modest,” he said pointedly to her, pulling up a file on the computer. “Emma Waters, born June 7th, 1990. Mother was Renee Waters, died in childbirth; father unknown. Lived in an orphanage until aging out. Eidetic memory and genius level IQ. Graduated high school at age 15, used inheritance from mother to achieve PhD’s in computer science and engineering by age 20.”

“I’ve recently taken up physics as a hobby,” she added with a smirk, causing Dr. Wells to laugh. 

“Like I said, great minds.” Emma grew quiet, a pained look on her face. 

“I’ve never had friends,” she whispered. “Even before this,” she began, lighting her right hand aflame, “I was still a freak. None of the kids in the orphanage, nor at school, could relate to me. When they were playing with Barbies, I was creating computer codes.”

“Barry, Cisco, Caitlin… all three were bullied growing up for being as smart as they are. Cisco gave you a hard time for being a nerd, but honestly he is even more so one than you. You’re among peers here, ones who can keep up with you. Things can be different...if you let it.” 

Emma sat there for a long time after he left, contemplating his words. Could things really be different here? Perhaps. She didn’t know if she had it in her to try, though. 

“Hey,” a new voice pulled her out of her thoughts some time later. 

“Hey Barry,” she answered without even turning to look at him. 

“You’re here early,” he commented, taking in the sight of her. She was wearing the same clothes she had changed into the day before: a Star Wars shirt that showed off the bottom of her stomach, red ripped jeans, a leather jacket, and black converse. The rims of her eyes were red.

“Never left,” she mumbled. “Had nowhere to go.”

“Nowhere…? Oh, right, no one knew where you were for ten months so obviously…”

“No apartment anymore,” she finished, a rueful smile on her face. Barry disappeared in a blur, as did the three boxes of stuff she had there with her. When he returned a second later, he had a wide smile on his face. “There,” he said, “now that that’s fixed, let’s get on with testing your powers!”

“Wait!” she called as he began to leave the room “What was that?!”

“What? Oh! Right, I moved your stuff to my place.” 

“What? Why?!” The smile he gave Emma then seemed to say ‘isn’t it obvious?’

“You’re staying with me until you find a place, of course!” 

And with that he left the room, leaving Emma standing alone and utterly confused.


	3. Chapter 3

Feet planted in a fighting stance, Emma let out a deep breath to steady herself as she faced a line of stationary targets. She felt utterly ridiculous standing there in the middle of a field wearing Cisco’s prototype for a flame retardant suit. It was far too small--which was saying something considering she was 5’2” and only around 100 pounds-- and it was some weird onesie-unitard-thing that would look goofy even if it fit correctly. 

“I hate you, Cisco,” she grumbled, knowing he would hear her through the earpiece they had given her. She heard him laughing in response.

“Looking good, Emma,” Barry teased, trying to force himself not to laugh at the poor girl. He remembered vividly when he was in her place, but she might’ve looked even funnier than he had.

“I’d be careful, Barry, you’re messing with fire,” she replied, a smirk on her face at her pun. 

“Oh god, don’t even start,” Cisco groaned. 

“Alright, enough chatter,” Dr. Wells interrupted, trying to get everyone back on track. “Now, Emma, I want you to hit each target one at a time.” 

Emma nodded her head, rolling her shoulders back and lifting up her right hand. Her eyes locked onto the one directly in the middle and aimed her hand at it. Remembering what she did in the lab, she focused on her hand, imagining her energy pooling into her palm. In doing so she felt her hair turn to flames and knew her eyes had changed too, as they always seemed to do when she used her powers. Sure enough, flames shot out of her hand as if it was a flamethrower, shooting straight towards the target but throwing her backwards. She landed on the grass, the wind knocked out of her. A pained groaned left her lips as she stood herself back up. 

“Nice shot, Emma,” Cisco praised, prompting her to look back at the targets. She had hit the one she wanted to, leaving all the others intact. 

“It felt like the recoil of shooting a gun,” she told them, “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Wait, you’ve shot a gun before?” Cisco asked, surprised such a small and delicate looking woman such as Emma would have handled a weapon.

“Yeah,” she answered dismissively, not wanting to get into that particular memory. “Let me try again.”

She lifted her hand again, this time aiming at the target on the far right. She planted her feet firmly on the ground, bending her knees to act as shock absorbers to counteract the recoil she experienced the last time. Focusing her energy into her palm, she let out another blast of energy, this time both hitting the target and staying upright. Her face broke out into a smile.

“I did it!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands. 

“It’s interesting,” Caitlin interjected, looking at her tablet. “When you use your powers your core body temperature skyrockets.” 

“Her powers comes from within, so it would make sense. When she activates them, the cells in her body must speed up in order to create heat,” Dr. Wells added.

“I had outfitted the targets with sensors to calculate the temperature of her flames. Turns out, they reached a temperature upwards of 2,000 degrees fahrenheit.” Emma raised an eyebrow at this, surprised at the number,

“That’s the typical temperature of a candle flame or a bunsen burner,” Dr. Wells mused, a thought forming in his mind. “I think you can do better, Emma. Caitlin, are these sensors also in the gloves Cisco made?” Caitlin nodded her confirmation. “Okay, Emma, I want you to create a flame in your hand and try to make it burn as hot as you possibly can.” 

Emma nodded her head, her brows furrowing in concentration. Closing her eyes, she blocked out everything around her, focusing only on the heat she felt running in her veins. She raised her palm upwards and focused her energy into her hand. Eyes now open, she felt the familiar heat on her face as her hair lit up in flames, her hand following seconds after.

“2,220 degrees,” she heard Caitlin say through the comms. 

“Hotter, Emma,” Dr. Wells instructed. Emma flexed her fingers, forcing more energy into the flames. They danced higher, turning white. 

“2,600 degrees.”

“Hotter, Emma!”

Emma closed her eyes, pushing as much energy into her hand as possible. She felt sweat dripping down her face and her muscles began to ache with the strain of her exertion. Breathing became difficult, the air in her lungs turning thin. When she opened her eyes she saw the flames turn blue.

Those beautiful blue flames were the last thing she saw before she passed out. 

*******************

When she came to, Emma found herself lying on a cot in the med bay where she had woken up from her coma. She ached everywhere and moving to sit up was agonizing. She groaned, gaining the attention of the others in the room. 

“Emma, are you okay?” Barry asked, worry swimming in his green eyes. 

“Yeah,” she breathed, rubbing her face as she racked her memories for an explanation. “Fuck. What happened?”

“I have a theory,” Dr. Wells began, ignoring her profanity. “Flames turn blue where the fire burns oxygen most efficiently. It’s called complete combustion. Now the entire flame in you hand, and the flames of your hair, turned completely blue. I think your fire used the oxygen both inside your body and the air around you, not leaving enough oxygen for you to breathe freely. Hence, why you passed out.”

“So, every time I create blue flames I’m going to pass out?” 

“Not necessarily. It’s possible that, with enough practice, you will be able to do so without losing consciousness. However, I believe I pushed you too far, too soon. For that, I apologize.” 

“No problem,” Emma assured, shrugging her shoulders, wincing as her muscles strained at the movement. “It’s probably better we learned now, anyways.”

“It’s late, let’s call it a day. We can explore your abilities more tomorrow,” Dr. Wells instructed. “Miss Waters, please get a good night’s rest. A lot has happened these past two days and I know you didn’t sleep last night. If you’re serious about joining Barry in his heroics you are going to need to stay healthy.” Emma nodded before Wells wheeled out of the room, Cisco and Caitlin following behind. She swung her legs slowly off the cot, grimacing as she moved to stand up. 

“Sore?” Barry asked, noticing her struggling. She nodded slightly, even that movement hurting her sore muscles. He reached out and grabbed her arm to steady her. 

“Yeah. I mean, it makes sense: oxygen is used to create ATP, which is an energy molecule used during exercise. I’m assuming my use of my powers used a similar process as my body would when exercising, so...” she explained. At his raised eyebrows she added, “Sorry, I’m rambling. I read a lot; went through a biology phase and read the entire section at the library.”

“The entire...section…” he repeated, an incredulous look on his face. “Cisco was right, you’re a total nerd,” he laughed. 

“A photographic memory helps,” she pointed out, finally standing up all the way. “Well roomie, lead the way to your place.” The smirk that appeared on Barry’s face made her a bit nervous. 

Barry, a supportive hand still on her arm, moved to grab her waist. Emma’s heart lurched in her throat at the contact, but before she could question him she felt wind blowing through her hair and in a blink she was standing inside what she assumed was his apartment. 

“Holy shit,” she breathed, “that was a rush.” 

Realizing that her hands, which had gripped his shirt while he ran them here, were still holding tightly onto the fabric over his chest, she stepped away awkwardly and cleared her throat. 

“Yeah,” he chuckled, “there’s nothing like it.” 

Not knowing what to say, she took in the sight of his place: it was clean, but small, and looked to be an older apartment. Everything was all tidy and put away, but Emma guessed it was easy to keep things clean when he could do it literally in a few seconds. She saw a picture frame on the end table next to the couch and picked it up to look at the photo. In it, Barry was sitting next to a pretty dark haired girl and an older man who looked to be her dad. They were all smiling widely, clearly happy. A small smile tugged at her lips but she couldn’t ignore the pang of jealousy she felt in her heart. She didn’t have any photos with loved ones packed away in her meager belongings. Then again, she didn’t have friends nor family to take pictures with in the first place.

“Do you mind if I shower?” she asked, putting the picture back, feeling increasingly awkward standing there with a man she had just met and hardly knew. 

“Yeah, yeah of course,” he said, leading her to his bathroom. He grabbed a towel from under the sink and handed it to her. “I’ll go grab us some pizza. Do you like pizza?” 

“No, I love pizza,” she replied, a wide smile on her face. “You should totally grab some beer too because I’ve had a hell of a few days,” she added with a chuckle. He laughed along with her and told her he’d grab some of that, too.

When she stepped into the shower and let the steaming hot water rush over her skin she let out a deep breath as she reflected over the past two days. The past two absolutely insane days. Everything in her life had been flipped upside down. One moment she was walking down the street and the next it was ten months later and she had superpowers. Emma wasn’t a stranger to finding her own way through the numerous obstacles life seemed to like to throw at her, but this was a whole new level of challenging. 

Her mind drifted to the people who had taken her in she felt grateful and happy to have people who cared about her in one capacity or another. They didn’t even know her, but here she was staying with one of them while the rest were working hard to help her master her new abilities and make her part of the team. Underneath the happiness, though, she also felt dread rooting itself in the pit of her stomach. Letting these people in could very well end in her getting hurt one way or another. It wouldn’t be the first time she tried to connect with others only for it to blow up in her face.

She could only hope this time would be different.

*********************

A half hour later Emma emerged from the bathroom clad in an oversized graphic t-shirt and cotton sleep shorts. She found Barry sitting on his couch in front of the television with two extra large boxes of pizza and two opened beers.

“Oh my god I could not be more excited for this,” she said, gaining his attention. Barry gave her attire a once over and let out a loud laugh, burying his face in his hands.

“Are you seriously wearing a shirt that says “come to the dark side, we have cookies’?” 

“Yes, in fact, I am. And before you go all ‘OMG Emma you’re such a nerd,’” she said, including an exaggerated imitation of Barry’s voice. “Don’t think I missed your entire Star Wars movie collection. I’m not sure you have any room to talk.” She walked over to said movie collection and grabbed the first movie. “We are totally watching this right now, by the way,” she informed Barry as she plopped down on the couch next to him. 

“One: I do not sound like that,” he said with a laugh. “Two: alright, you caught me. I do love Star Wars. Three: we only tease you because that’s what we do. Cisco and I are always giving each other a hard time.” The corner of Emma’s lips threatened to tug into a small at the thought that he included her in ‘we.’ 

Barry put in the movie while Emma grabbed a slice of pizza. She bit into it and moaned in happiness.

“Dude, who knew pizza would taste so good after a tenth month coma?”

“Right?” he agreed with a chuckle, sitting back down and pressing play on the movie. “I think I ate six pizzas by myself the day I woke up.” 

“That might have something to do with your increased metabolism but the fact remains: pizza is the single greatest food.” Emma, very unattractively, shoved the rest of her pizza slice into her mouth and grabbed a second.

“I have super speed and I’m impressed by how fast you put away that slice,” Barry laughed as she bit into her second slice before she finished chewing the rest of her first.   
“I’m fuckin’ hungry, man,” she explained, mouth still full. 

“So ladylike,” he teased with a smile on his face. A blush immediately creeped up onto hers.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized after swallowing the food in her mouth. “I’m terrible with social norms and manners. Side effect of never having any friends.”

Barry was taken off guard at the nonchalance with which she admitted to her lack of friends, watching her as she simply chugged half her beer and returned to eating pizza. He took a moment just to study the girl sitting next to him. Yes, she was a total dork with a terrible habit of swearing too much, but she was nice and funny and, he had to admit, completely adorable. He couldn’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to be her friend. 

“Stop looking at me like that,” she said, pulling him out of his thoughts. She looked at him with her large brown doe eyes, her eyebrows knotted together as she gave him a serious look. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s really not a big deal. No need for pity.”

“I was actually thinking that anyone who didn’t want to be your friend is a complete moron,” he told her honestly. Her eyes narrowed skeptically. “No, I’m serious. Look, yeah that must have sucked but here you sit, a brilliant, confident, self-assured person. I couldn’t possibly pity you because I actually admire you.” 

Emma, now uncomfortable from both the topic and the praise he was sending her way. She was never one for compliments; she didn’t receive many in the first place, and when she did she always felt she didn’t deserve them. She grabbed her beer, downing the rest of it before cracking open another and starting on that one. When she finished it in a matter of seconds and grabbed a third Barry realized she felt uncomfortable and decided to change the topic.

“Did you know I can’t get drunk anymore?” In response she choked on her drink, beer coming up out of her nose. 

“Oh for the love of God, that better not fucking happen to me.”


End file.
